Fear, secrecy and danger a way of life For Afghan gays

Massoud Hossaini

Published
9:30 pm CDT, Friday, November 4, 2016

In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2016 photo, Rameen, a young gay Afghan, poses with his back to the camera in Kabul, Afghanistan. To be homosexual in Afghanistan is to live in fear. Rameen and Naveed, another young gay man, have lost count of the number of times they've been lured into dangerous situations by men they believed they were meeting for dates. Both men describe being robbed, beaten up and blackmailed, and receiving death threats; they’ve even survived police “honey traps” that could have seen them thrown in prison without charge, simply on suspicion of being gay. (AP Photos/Massoud Hossaini)

In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2016 photo, Rameen, a young gay Afghan, poses with his back to the camera in Kabul, Afghanistan. To be homosexual in Afghanistan is to live in fear. Rameen and Naveed, another young gay

In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2016 photo, Rameen, a young gay Afghan, poses with his back to the camera in Kabul, Afghanistan. To be homosexual in Afghanistan is to live in fear. Rameen and Naveed, another young gay man, have lost count of the number of times they've been lured into dangerous situations by men they believed they were meeting for dates. Both men describe being robbed, beaten up and blackmailed, and receiving death threats; they’ve even survived police “honey traps” that could have seen them thrown in prison without charge, simply on suspicion of being gay. (AP Photos/Massoud Hossaini)

In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2016 photo, Rameen, a young gay Afghan, poses with his back to the camera in Kabul, Afghanistan. To be homosexual in Afghanistan is to live in fear. Rameen and Naveed, another young gay

In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2016 photo, Rameen, a young gay Afghan, poses with his back to the camera in Kabul, Afghanistan. To be homosexual in Afghanistan is to live in fear. Rameen and Naveed, another young gay man, have lost count of the number of times they've been lured into dangerous situations by men they believed they were meeting for dates. Both men describe being robbed, beaten up and blackmailed, and receiving death threats; they’ve even survived police “honey traps” that could have seen them thrown in prison without charge, simply on suspicion of being gay. (AP Photos/Massoud Hossaini)